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I live in a small Missouri town, 1100 people. Draw a line between Kansas City and Springfield (MO), put a dot in the middle, that would be close.
I started selling on eBay 10 years ago, various liquidation items, now primarily NOS auto parts. At that time I was 60 years old, working in I.T. with a cushy work-from-home job, cruising to retirement. But life is a trickster and I ended up out of work for 1-1/2 years and suffered a significant personal loss, then starting selling full time at the end of 2015. Now, here I am at 70, enjoying my grandchildren and small-town life while supplementing my Social Security and deferring use of my retirement funds. I have no employees. I also have several rental properties and a seasonal fireworks sales business.
I have ~3000 products, average selling price around $23, some much higher priced item in the mix. I have multiple quantities on most. Many items ship in poly bags, flat-rate options or other standard boxes. I streamlined my shipping process and need minimal time for daily, I average 12-13 orders per day which takes about 30 minutes. For listing I use an Excel workbook with all data in rows on the first sheet, with that pulled to other sheets to create .csv files for uploading to eBay, Amazon, Shopify as well as inventory management service and shipping label provider. Stock photos where I can but about half the time I have to create product photos
I’m not a scavenger in the sense that Jay and Ryanne, or many others here are, but I do have to find the right items and buy them at the right price, usually from auto parts liquidators, parts store closings and other sources. It’s a different type of scavenging but many of the same concepts apply. It’s still fun for the most part and I can work as hard or little as I decide. I live frugally and have no debt other than a small mortgage that is soon to be paid off.
This post is longer than I expected, but “it is what it is”.
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–You have 3000 items in your inventory that are multiple quantity? That’s incredible. Are they eternally replenishable?
–Or do you buy 100 of one item in a close out sale and once they’re gone they’re gone?
–Where do you store the 3000 skus with multiple quantity?Great photo of the grandkids.
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Right now eBay shows 2,986 listings with 30,653 total quantity in my primary store. I don’t have a source to replenish items but occasionally come across more later and add them or relist.
As you know, there are empty buildings available in many small towns (at least until you get around to renovating them, lol). The building I rent is 3000 square feet on 1 level, originally a gas station 50 years ago or so, added onto multiple times, last use was a pizza restaurant/video store. I pay $250 per month.
The grandkids photo was taken this morning, first day of the new school year. I have an older granddaughter also. I’m proud of all of them, of course.
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That’s $.08 per square foot for rent! That’s even cheaper than in our rural area. Amazing.
You run a pretty big store. I’d say that’s more than just supplemental income 🙂
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The building I rent is less expensive than some in town, it’s owned by an in-law who mostly wants to cover taxes, it was sitting empty for several years or more before I started using it.
Most of my items are long tail, you know all about that. I’m not making a fortune but getting by comfortably with a simple lifestyle.
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